The same thing happened with Super Mario All-Stars, Persona 2, Digital Devil Saga, Shin Megami Nocturne, and Mario Dance Dance Revolution. All of them were eventually reprinted. The price of the game on the resale market is the best indication to a publisher that they didn't make enough and are passing up on some easy money by turning the printing presses back on.

I have a new found love for the Dragon Quest series after playing IX (my first Dragon Quest game) and DQVI. I plan to get Dragon Quest V too, but I think I will be waiting for the inevitable reprint.

Can you think of any CD based games where the publisher didn't reprint the title when the resale price was higher than the retail price? If you do you might be able to convince me to pay the extra money to get my Dragon Quest fix.

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Anonymous
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I'd bet against the reprint. instead of offering DQV again, they probably want to get rid of the DQVI, and DQIX copies out there... also we keep hearing news of DQX http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_Quest_X

Sorry to bust your bubble, but the reprint aint gonna happen... Hmm thanks for reminding me on checking the price, USED copies are going for >$50 on Amazon...

I believe that the value of DQ5 is atleast partly because the game is MUCH harder to pirate than other DS games (including DQ4). Obviously Square Enix knows this and then the question becomes if they believe that the evil piraters will be willing to pay retail price for the game if it is reprinted...

I think (rather than printing a new copy). It could become available digitally. I see what you are saying about it being rare and costing more on the secondary market, however the games you mentioned (New Super Mario, Persona 2, and Persona 3) are all disk based games, and I have never heard of a reprint for a DS title this far after release date... There are a few DS games that are still very much in demand and hard/impossible to find at retail (Yoshi's Island, Mario & Luigi Partners in Time, Castlevania Dawn of Sorrow/Portrait of Ruin, Advance Wars : Dual Strike, Kirby Canvas Curse, Animal Crossing: Wild World) I could be wrong, but if you are a betting man.... I'd take that bet.

@anonymous - Good point about disc based vs DS games. DS games are something in between CD and Cartridges, not quite either one is my understanding. So they aren't quite as easy to reprint as disc based games but not as expensive as cartridge ones.

Clubhouse Games was reprinted by Nintendo. For a while it was selling for $40 but now sells for $5-7.

Those games you mentioned might be hard to find at retail but their resale prices are all below the retail price. If they were reprinted they might sell more copies, but the supply and demand is not so out of line that people are willing to pay more than MSRP for it.

I will take your bet though. My official bet: Dragon Quest V will be reprinted by December 31, 2012.